Here
you may find basic information about legal protection of
intellectual property objectsè
1.
The Laws of Uzbekistan
LAW
OF THE REPUBLIC OF
UZBEKISTAN
ON THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF
COMPUTER PROGRAMS AND DATABASES
of May 6, 1994
(as amended and updated on April 5, 2002)
This Law shall
govern the relations arising in connection with the
creation, legal protection and use of computer programs
and databases. Relations in the field of legal
protection for computer programs and databases in the
Republic of Karakalpakstan shall also be regulated by
the legislation of the Republic of Karakalpakstan.
Article 1. Basic concepts
The basic
concepts used in this Law shall be:
- database
means a collection of data (for example, articles or
calculations) expressed objectively and systematized
such that these data can be found and processed using
computers;
- computer
program means a collection of data and commands
expressed objectively and designed for the functioning
of computers, computer networks and other computer
devices in order to achieve the results defined;
- source
text means a text written in a particular programming
language not subject to reprocessing by a particular
compiler;
- subject
code means a program obtained as a result of a source
text being converted into machine code;
- computer
decompilation program means a technical method including
the conversion of a subject code into a source text in
order to study the structure and encoding of a computer
program;
- adaptation
of a computer program or database means making
amendments exclusively for the purposes of computer
program or database operations in the specific
conditions created, and not entailing the possibility of
change (as a result of decompilation) in an author’s
source text;
-
modification (reprocessing) of a computer program or
database means any changes thereto, which do not
constitute adaptation but entail a change in the source
text;
-
reproduction of a computer program or database means the
production of one or more copies of the computer program
or database in any material form, and also their
recording in the computer memory;
-
distribution of a computer program or database means the
provision of access to a computer program or database
reproduced in any material form, including by network
and other means, as well as by means of sale, hire,
rental, and loan provision, including import for any of
these purposes;
- making
publicly available (publishing) a computer program or
database means the provision of copies of the computer
program or database, with the author’s consent, to an
undefined number of persons (including by means of
recording in the computer memory and issue of a printed
text);
- use of a
computer program or database means the public provision,
reproduction, distribution and other acts relating to
their introduction into public circulation (including in
modified form). Transmission by the mass media of
communications relating to a computer program or
database made publicly available shall not be recognized
as use of the computer program or database;
- rights
owners means an author, his heirs and also any natural
or legal persons who possess exclusive personal and
proprietary rights obtained under the law or by
agreement.
Article 2. International treaties and agreements
If
international treaties or agreements to which the
Republic of Uzbekistan is a party contain provisions
other than those envisaged by this Law, the provisions
of the international treaty or agreement shall apply.
Article 3. Subject of legal protection
Computer
programs and databases shall relate, through this Law,
to subjects of copyright.
Copyright
shall extend to any computer programs and databases
which are the result of the authors’ (joint authors’)
creative activity, be they publicly available or not,
expressed objectively, and irrespective of their purpose
and value.
The copyright
for a computer program or database shall be assumed
until such time as proof to the contrary is provided.
The legal protection granted by this Law shall:
- extend to
all types of computer programs (including operating
systems and software), which may be expressed in any
programming language and in any form, including a source
text and subject code, and also to databases which are
the result of creative labor relating to data selection
and organization;
- not extend
to ideas and principles on which computer programs or
databases, or any of their elements, are based,
including interface and algorithm organizational ideas
and principles, as well as programming languages.
Article 4. Conditions for recognition of copyright
on computer programs
or databases
Copyright on a
computer program or database shall arise as a result of
the creation of such a page. For the recognition and
enforcement of the copyright on a computer program or
database, there shall be no registration requirement,
nor shall there be a need to observe other formalities.
Copyright on
a database consisting of materials (works) not
constituting copyright subjects shall belong to the
persons who created the database.
Copyright on a
database comprising materials constituting copyright
subjects shall be recognized, provided that the
copyright on each material of that kind is observed.
Copyright on
each of the materials included in a database shall be
preserved. These materials may be used independently of
such a database.
Copyright on
a database shall not prevent other persons from
selecting independently and organizing the materials and
works forming part of this database. For notification
purposes with regard to his rights, a rights holder may,
from the time a computer program or database is first
made publicly available, use a copyright protection sign
consisting of three elements: the letter C in a circle
or in round brackets, the title (name) of the rights
holder, and the year the computer program or database is
first made publicly available.
Copyright on
a computer program or database shall not be connected to
the right of ownership on the carrier of such a
program. Any transfer of rights to a material holder
shall not entail the transfer of the author’s powers to
computer programs or databases.
Article 5. Period of copyright validity
The period of
validity of the copyright on computer programs and
databases shall be determined in accordance with the
copyright standards provided for by legislation.
Article 6. Authorship, personal and proprietary
rights
The authorship
of a computer program or database, and also the personal
and proprietary rights of an author(s) or other rights
holder shall be determined in accordance with the
legislation in force.
The exclusive
right to enforce and/or authorize modification of a
computer program or database, including the translation
of the computer program or database from one programming
language to another shall also belong to the author(s)
of the computer program or database or other rights
holder.
Article 7. Transfer of proprietary rights
The
proprietary rights to a computer program or database may
be transferred in full or in part to other natural or
legal persons by agreement. The agreement shall be
concluded in writing and shall establish the following
major conditions: scope and methods of use of the
computer program or database, procedure for payment and
level of remuneration, period of validity of the
agreement.
The
proprietary rights to a computer program or database
shall be transferred by right of succession subject to
the procedure established by law.
Article 8. Proprietary rights to a
computer program or database,
created in the course of employment
The
proprietary rights to a computer program or database,
created in the course of employment or at an employer’s
request, shall belong to the employer unless otherwise
provided for by agreement between the employer and
author.
The procedure
for payment and level of remuneration shall be
established by agreement between the author and
employer.
Where an
organization or enterprise (irrespective of the form of
ownership) possessing the proprietary rights to a
computer program or database is reorganized, disbanded
or liquidated, all proprietary rights may, according to
a court or liquidation commission decision, be
correspondingly transferred to an author(s), the State
or other legal successor.
Article 9. The right to registration and
registration of computer programs
and databases
The right to
register a computer program or database shall be held by
natural or legal persons of the Republic of Uzbekistan
and other States, who, in relation thereto, possess all
personal and proprietary rights in accordance with
agreement. A rights holder shall, either directly or
through his representative, enter in the State Register
of Program Products or the State Register of Databases
(hereinafter – the Register) a computer program or
database by filing an application with the State Patent
Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter
–Patent Office).
An
application for official registration of a computer
program or database (hereinafter – application for
registration) shall relate to a single computer program
or database. The rules for drafting an application for
registration shall be determined by the Patent Office.
Once it has
received an application for registration, the Patent
Office shall verify that the requisite documents are
present and that they comply with the rule
requirements. Where the verification is successful, the
Patent Office shall enter the computer program or
database in the appropriate register, issue the
applicant with a certificate of official registration,
and publish information on registered computer programs
and databases in the Patent Office official gazette.
At the
request of the Patent Office or at his own initiative,
an applicant may, prior to the publication of
information in the official gazette, update, clarify and
amend the application documents. Where the verification
is unsuccessful, the Patent Office shall issue the
applicant with a document attesting to the refusal to
grant official registration.
The official
registration procedure, forms of official registration
certificates and content of the data indicated therein
shall be established by the Patent Office. The Patent
Office shall also draw up a list of the information to
be published in the official gazette.
An agreement
concerning the full assignment of all the proprietary
rights to a registered computer program or database
shall be subject to registration with the Patent
Office. Agreements on the transfer of proprietary
rights to a computer program or database may registered
with the Patent Office, by agreement between the
parties.
Information
entered in the Register shall be considered authentic
until such time as proof is provided to the contrary.
Liability for the authenticity of the information in
question shall be borne by the applicant.
Patent fees
shall be levied for the performance of legally
significant acts connected with the registration of
computer programs or databases and the registration of
agreements to transfer rights for the use of computer
programs and databases. The patent fees shall be paid
to the Patent Office to cover its expenditure incurred
in carrying out the functions provided for by this Law.
The levels of and procedure for payment of the patent
fees shall be established by the Cabinet of Ministers of
the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Article 10. Registration of a computer program
or database in other States
Natural and
legal persons of the Republic of Uzbekistan may register
a computer program or database in other States or
register such a program internationally.
A computer
program or database shall be registered in other States
by natural and legal persons of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, once an application has been filed with the
Patent Office.
Article 11. Use of a computer program or
database by agreement
with the rights holder
Use of a
computer program or database by third parties (users)
shall be undertaken on the basis of an agreement with
the rights holder, excluding the cases indicated in
Article 13 of this Law.
In case of
the sale of computer programs and databases, or the
provision for mass users of access thereto, it shall be
possible to apply a special procedure for concluding
contracts, in particular by drafting model conditions
for an agreement on sold copies of the computer programs
and databases.
Article 12. Free reproduction and adaptation of
a computer program or database
A person who
lawfully owns a computer program or database may,
without obtaining additional authorization from the
rights owner, carry out any acts in connection with the
functioning of the computer program or database, in
accordance with its purpose, including recording and
storage in the computer memory, and also the correction
of obvious mistakes. Recording and storage in the
computer memory shall be permitted in relation to a
single computer or single network user, unless otherwise
provided for by agreement with the rights holder.
A person who
lawfully owns a copy of a computer program or database
may, without the consent of the rights holder and
without payment thereto of additional remuneration
(unless otherwise provided for by agreement), carry out
the following acts: adapt the computer program or
database; manufacture or commission the manufacture of
a copy of the computer program or database, provided
that this copy is intended solely for archive purposes
and where necessary (where the original computer program
or database has been lost, destroyed or has become
unusable) for the replacement of the lawfully acquired
copy. In that regard, the copy of the computer program
or database may not be used for purposes other than
those indicated above, and shall not be destroyed where
further use of this computer program or database ceases
to become lawful.
A person who
lawfully owns a copy of a computer program may decompile
it for the purposes of studying the encoding and
structure of this program, provided that written consent
has been obtained from the author or other rights
holder, or without such consent, if:
- the
information, obtained as a result of this decompilation
and required for the sake of compatibility of the
computer program produced independently by the person in
question with other programs, cannot be accessed from
other sources;
-
decompilation is carried out in relation only to those
parts of the computer program which are required for
arranging such compatibility;
- the
information obtained as a result of this decompilation
may not be used for the purposes of developing,
producing or distributing the computer program that is
essentially similar in terms of its expression to the
decompiled computer program, or for carrying out any
other act infringing copyright.
Article 13. Free resale of a copy of a computer
program or database
The resale or
transfer by other means of the right of ownership, or of
other material rights, to a copy of a computer program
or database, following the first sale or other transfer
of the right of ownership to this copy, shall be
permitted without the consent of the rights holder and
without payment thereto of additional remuneration.
Article 14. Copyright protection
The author of
a computer or database program and other rights holders
may demand:
-
recognition of rights;
-
re-establishment of the situation existing up to the
infringement of a right and termination of the acts
infringing the right, or creating a threat to infringe
it;
-
compensation for the damages sustained, which shall
include the sum of the income unlawfully obtained by the
infringing party;
- payment by
the infringing party, who has made a profit, of
compensation as opposed to reimbursement for the damages
sustained, at a level considered appropriate by the
relevant court, ranging from twenty to one thousand
minimum wages;
- taking of
other measures, provided for by legislative acts,
connected with the protection of their right.
The author of
a computer program or database and other rights holders
may apply to the corresponding court for protection of
their right.
A court may
decide to confiscate copies of a computer program or
database, manufactured in violation of a copyright, and
decide to destroy those copies. Materials and equipment
used to reproduce such copies of a computer program or
database may, on a court decision, be transferred to
budgetary income or, at his request, to a claimant as
compensation for damages.
Article 15. Copyright infringement
The failure of
a natural or legal person to meet the requirements of
this Law in relation to the exclusive rights of rights
holders shall constitute an infringement of copyright.
The public
provision under another name of a computer program or
database, or the unlawful reproduction or distribution
of such works shall incur administrative or criminal
liability, in accordance with the procedure established
by legislation.
Copies of a
computer program or database, the manufacture or use of
which entails the infringement of copyright, shall be
subject to withdrawal in accordance with the procedure
established by legislation.
Article 16. The rights of foreign natural and
legal persons
Foreign
natural and legal persons shall enjoy the rights
provided for by this Law, on an equal basis with natural
and legal persons of the Republic of Uzbekistan or on
the basis of the principle of reciprocity.
Back
If you will need to obtain any
additional information don't hesitate to ask us. |